2016 Critic's Picks

By Matthew Odam
Updated Oct. 21, 2016

In addition to the Top 25, I have also created this roster of 75 critic's picks. They range from daily drivers, like taco trailers and sandwich shops, to high-end steakhouses and European-inspired restaurants. These restaurants and trailers should serve as a snapshot for the Austin restaurant scene as a whole and guide you to some new places while reinforcing the achievements of longtime favorites.

12101 RM 2244

12101 RM 2244

The crunch and floss of a freshly baked baguette embraces folds of supple ham and creamy brie cheese in one of my favorite sandwiches in town. True to its name, this cafe and bakery has roots in its owners’ native France, and the passion and tradition are evidenced in the flaky chocolate croissants and the variety of sweet and savory crepes. Bonus points for being the best bite in the area.

2408 West Anderson Ln

2408 West Anderson Ln

There’s a fine line between dated and nostalgic, and Bartlett’s walks that line with confidence. A yellowfin tuna burger sweetened with soy-honey glaze, a hickory burger slathered with barbecue sauce and bacon, lump crab cakes and apricot-glazed roasted chicken feel more comforting than anachronistic at this former Houston’s outpost. Bonus points for not trying to be cool.

215 N. Main St., Lockhart

215 N. Main St., Lockhart

Black’s might lack the size and made-for-TV appeal of a couple of its
fellow Lockhart joints, but the brisket has a sturdy bark and deep smoke
penetration unsurpassed on barbecue row, the beef rib falls apart like a
meat glacier and the fatty (mostly beef) sausages come stuffed in a
casing that snaps. Bonus points for offering online shipping of briskets
to those not fortunate enough to live in Central Texas, and the tiny
confines that make you feel like you were let in on a secret.

7020 Easy Wind Drive

7020 Easy Wind Drive

Does a restaurant deserve credit for simply doing the right thing by fighting for fair wages and supporting the community? Certainly. But Black Star Co-op earns honors for much more than just having a good heart and soul. The cooperatively owned brewpub thinks conscientiously about how it sources for upscale pub grub that includes a solid burger, massive fish and chips and even a vegetarian take on a sloppy Joe. They feed their community in more ways than one.

1207 S. First St.

1207 S. First St.

Keeping samosas and pakora crunchy and enticing even as they’re served from a trailer is a welcome trick here. Familiar chicken tikka masala is tender, and aloo gobi somehow keeps from turning soft at this spot that also serves up consistently friendly service. Bonus points for being a trusty go-to for your vegetarian friends.

1901 S. Lamar Blvd (Trailer)

1901 S. Lamar Blvd (Trailer)

Salt, pepper and smoke are all Austin native and Bowie High School graduate Daniel Brown needs to create a crust on his brisket and put a little kick into his pliant pork ribs. Chicken often goes overlooked on barbecue menus, but don’t make that mistake here: The tawny, rippled skin that wraps the moist meat could be its own menu item. Bonus points for the short wait.

This restaurant is closed

This restaurant is closed

Restaurateurs Emmett and Lisa Fox were operating successful restaurants while some of our city’s top chefs were still in high school. Their latest pulls a little from their Hyde Park Italian restaurant Asti (a just-angry-enough bucatini amatriciana) and their late Mediterranean spot Fino (smoky chargrilled octopus with crunchy papas bravas) and proves that sometimes straight-ahead food like a roasted chicken or lamb burger is more important than flashy design. Bonus points for a bar that feels equally suited for drinking or dining.

1901 S. Lamar Blvd.

1901 S. Lamar Blvd.

With its location next to a bar, you might assume this little trailer is just a place to soak up booze. Wrong. The turkey mole taco balances its wintry depths with bright pickled jalapeño and cilantro, and the sweet piquancy of ginger and mango elevate a chicken taco. Bonus points for being next to Brown’s Bar-B-Q trailer, where Capital scores brisket for a taco smoothed and spiked by avocado and jalapeño for a handheld meal.

8650 Spicewood Springs Road

A friendly dive in the best of ways, this counter-service restaurant from George Chen is home to some of the best hand-cut noodles in town, transformed into springy squiggles that swim in bowls of crumbly lamb meatballs. Beyond the noodles, which you also can eat as part of a stir-fry, try the sesame buns squeezing savory pork or the fragrant and crispy green onion pancakes. Bonus points for its proximity to Asia Market for some inspired post-meal shopping.

​1601 Guadalupe St.

​1601 Guadalupe St.

This Capitol-area restaurant has had the kind of staying power of which many Austin restaurants should be envious. And it's not coasting on its reputation. Marrow infuses its primal richness into bone-in goat curry that carries the essence of that gamy animal. Palak paneer-stuffed naan arrives hot, and bracing lamb kabobs come out tender and rosy, proof of a kitchen that has a strong sense of timing despite the large crowds. Bonus points for occasional live music and dancing.

2027 Anchor Lane

2027 Anchor Lane

It’s fitting that Contigo was inspired by one of the owner’s family ranches in South Texas. Something of a frontier mentality must have led Ben Edgerton and Andrew Wiseheart to open the restaurant. It’s hard to think back on how different the city looked in 2011 when they debuted Contigo, but let’s just say the location out past what would become the Mueller development didn’t seem like the most obvious place for a restaurant at the time. But, they built it, and people came. And they keep coming. They come for a great burger, housemade charcuterie and a sneaky good vegetarian dish or two, as well as a pastoral scene with picnic tables, twinkle lights and touches of iron and wood that almost makes you feel like you’re out in the country.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

The mini empire co-founded by Paul Qui has scaled back and tightened its focus in recent years. ESK now operates its original truck behind the Liberty Bar in East Austin and a counter service restaurant on South Lamar Boulevard. The caramelized fried Brussels sprouts salad with basil, cilantro, mint and jalapeño that launched a thousand imitators is still a go-to, as are the soft and sticky sweet Poor Qui's Buns with hoisin-lacquered pork. Bonus points for inspiring countless food trucks and for framing flavorful Asian fusion in a populist context.

1025 Barton Springs Road

1025 Barton Springs Road

Dishes like an ancho relleno stuffed with the earthy iron of mushrooms or spinach and duck enchiladas in a rich mole indicate that longtime Austin star chef Alma Alcocer isn’t playing to staid Tex-Mex palates. The sweet, gooey and savory Gringas (quesadillas of cheese, árbol salsa and al pastor with pineapple) prove that the chef isn’t afraid to have a little fun. Bonus points for a rooftop patio perfect for sipping margaritas and for a chef with her name on the restaurant actually being spotted in the kitchen.

1501 S. First St.

1501 S. First St.

The McGuire Moorman Hospitality group has created a posh cafe where they serve French pastries and their take on traditional Vietnamese dishes in a space that looks pulled from the pages of a design magazine. The delicate macarons and flaky almond croissants are as dainty as the precious decor and uniforms, while the turmeric-laced redfish and restorative pho deliver depth of flavor and something bordering on soul. And, with a bakery on site and a sister restaurant (Lambert’s) making peppery pork pâté, the bánh mì have built-in advantages over some competitors around town.

1610 S. Congress Ave.

1610 S. Congress Ave.

Small, circular bistro tables crowd the dining room that spills onto one of Congress Avenue’s few patios at this little sister to the muscular Vespaio next door. You can stray to the lighter side of the menu with a salad of airy frisee and crispy duck confit or the cream and blush of caprese, but the Italian food here is mostly of the hearty variety, from a puffed pizza of smoked applewood bacon, caramelized onions and cambozola cheese to pockets of ravioli filled with truffled veal. Bonus points for that patio, perfect for sipping wine and people-watching.

2307 Hancock Dr.

2307 Hancock Dr.

Light permeates this cafe (and cheese, wine and specialty foods shop) in Allandale that has a feminine aesthetic and a rustic soul. Chef Sarah McIntosh puts some light touches on typically weighty Louisiana cuisine, like the zippy remoulade and crunchy cabbage on a shrimp po-boy and the bites of smoked shrimp that dot fried green tomatoes. Despite its polite design, elbows come onto the table for a cheddar-capped burger and an unapologetic hot pastrami sandwich with housemade sauerkraut. Bonus points for salted chocolate chip cookies to take home.

2330 W. North Loop Blvd.

2330 W. North Loop Blvd.

Seminal Austin chef Miguel Ravago died this year, but his legacy lives on at the restaurant that he and Tom Gilliland opened in 1975. It introduced many Austinites to the glory of interior Mexican cuisine and style, and Fonda San Miguel continues to impress with tangy cochinita pibil, juicy carne asada Tampiquena and some of the city’s most famous enchiladas, as well as a dedication to hospitality and a respect for the sense of occasion many bring with them when they dine at the handsome Austin stalwart.

2402 San Gabriel St.

2402 San Gabriel St.

This century-old stunning building and its handsome wooden bar feel like they could have been pulled from a Western and plopped near campus, with an expansive courtyard to add populist appeal. Opening pitmaster Evan LeRoy left at the end of the summer, but I imagine Christopher McGhee, a longtime Freedmen’s cook and La Barbecue veteran, has developed the chops to continue the supple brisket, tangy pulled pork, spicy jalapeño pimento cheese, and smoked beets with goat cheese that have helped make this one of the best barbecue restaurants in town. Bonus points for the best cocktail I’ve ever had at a barbecue restaurant.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

It started as a fairly straight-forward charcoal chicken and taco stand. But since chefs Rene Ortiz and Laura Sawicki got their hands on it, Fresa’s has grown to include not only great tacos but also seasonal specials like seafood tostadas, healthy and vibrant salads, some killer ice cream (cookies and cream and Rice Krispie Treat are two of my favorites) and even chilaquiles for breakfast. Add in the South First location, which serves succulent grilled steak, fragrant grilled chicken and excellent shrimp and bacon quesadillas and also offers a sweet playscape for the kids, and you have a mini-empire and one of the best Mexican-influenced restaurants in town.

14735 Bratton Ln.

14735 Bratton Ln.

Heidi Garbo is a woman with the confidence to go against the grain. After moving to Texas from Florida, the New England native opened a lobster roll truck in landlocked Austin. Then she opened another. Then came a brick-and-mortar restaurant in a part of far North Austin not known for restaurants. The lobster rolls, their crimson knuckle and claw meat bursting from their toasty pouches, serve as the centerpiece for the restaurant that also delivers East Coast faves like well-developed clam chowder and (possibly a nod to her new home) a mean burger. Bonus points for giving a tucked-away suburban area the feel of the oceanside.

1209 E. Seventh St.

1209 E. Seventh St.

The main goal of a neighborhood restaurant should be to serve up community and comfort, and chef Chad Dolezal’s East Austin restaurant fits the mold. The restaurant-bar hybrid is not out to wow you with technique, but it knows how to deliver aggressive flavors. You could call the fried Brussels sprouts with golden raisins and peanut butter or the queso fundido with pork sausage elevated bar food, but what Dolezal is really doing — from charred okra with watermelon barbecue sauce to fried Gulf oysters and grilled corn with cotija cheese — is cooking Texas cuisine.

708 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown

708 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown

Chef Jacob Hilbert brings unexpected technique and a little rock ‘n’ roll attitude to this tame suburb. The Hollow is decorated with the bric-a-brac often found in small-town gift shops, but the menu is populated with surprises. Hilbert puts an elevated spin on the dreaded aspic salad with a vegetable terrine of carrot and cauliflower crowned with a dainty bubble of red beet foam, and coq au vin is presented as a crispy-skin-wrapped cylindrical slice speckled with celery root and apple in a pool of rich red wine and mushroom sauce.

You might not think to look to Georgetown for dishes like fermented congee that serves as a bed for roasted quail with hay butter, but Hilbert is challenging the notion that execution and imagination are things reserved for big-city kitchens. Bonus points for introducing me to Georgetown’s historic downtown square.

1415 S. Congress Ave.

1415 S. Congress Ave.

Owners Terri Hannifin and Jen and Joseph Strickland take tenured employees on an annual expedition to New York. The culinary tour not only rewards committed employees with a sweet trip but also gives the team an up-close look at some of the top pizza-makers in the country. That R&D investment pays off for customers in cheery and professional service and some of the best New York-style pizza in the state. I’ve probably visited Home Slice more in the past year than any other restaurant in Austin. I keep going back because I know I’m getting the perfect bake every time: a firm slice with a tawny crunch and just the right amount of gooey cheese. And the Italian sub? Also a favorite.

3110 Guadalupe St.

3110 Guadalupe St.

This French-inspired gastropub could just have offered one of the restaurant scene’s most interesting and exciting beer lists, an intimate space that lends itself to some salon-style, hop-fueled discussions and a knockout burger — covered with the slight funk of Camembert cheese and sweet caramelized onions — and pedaled off into the sunset on its penny-farthing. But they decided to be much more than that. They blew out the space to make lounging for dinner more enticing and from the shoebox kitchen turn out a Nicoise salad unrivaled in Austin, as well as bistro staples like roasted chicken and steak frites, and seasonal tartes like one of roasted butternut squash, shiitake mushroom and goat cheese. Great bar for dining or great restaurant for drinking beer and wine? Just depends on your mood.

5111 Airport Blvd.

5111 Airport Blvd.

This pizzeria helped usher the dining options on Airport Boulevard into a new era, as the once-bustling strip of road that had lost its luster moved from fast-food joints (like the one that once inhabited House’s building) to an array of considered concepts. The name of the restaurant speaks to the stars here — bubbled and charred pies like the gentle goat cheese and rosemary potato pizza and the more robust white cheddar, salami and red onions. Bonus points for a neighborhood vibe driven by an eclectic jukebox, eco-friendly ethos and solid local draft beer selection.

This restaurant is closed

This restaurant is closed

Can a barbecue restaurant put a town on the map? Hwy 29 makes the case. The restaurant, in a 133-year-old stone building, introduced me to the one-stoplight-town of Bertram. Austin native Morgan Scott and partner Corey Thibodeaux opened Hwy 29 in August 2013, and though some dedicated customers come only for the chicken, the brisket sells out first, and for good reason: The slow rendering of fat makes for pliable and tender beef. Also on the menu: pepper-speckled beef-and-pork sausage with a fine grind, and velvety pork loin with well-seasoned and seared crust. Bonus points for feeling like a step back in time.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

With a history that extends back into the 1980s as the executive chef at Z’Tejas, Jack Gilmore has some claim to being one of the godfathers of the Austin dining scene (and actual father to one of the state’s best chefs in Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine and Odd Duck). But Jack Gilmore doesn’t make the list simply for resume and a trove of rich stories; he gets points for developing a farm-to-table roadhouse and bringing that quality food to some areas in town that really needed it. Crispy salmon might sound like a dish you could find in hundreds of ‘90s-era bistros, but here it’s executed perfectly, crunchy on the outside and delicate through the middle, topped with a roasted tomatillo sauce, crab and local tomato.

At the other end of the spectrum is a fried chicken sandwich slathered with hickory sauce, cheddar, bacon and jalapeño mayonnaise. It’s not fancy, but good food doesn’t have to be. Bonus points for a lagniappe of housemade pimiento cheese and crackers to start the meal.

1204 W. Lynn St.

1204 W. Lynn St.

You want swankiness? Come here. If the original Jeffrey’s was a clubhouse for the neighborhood’s elite and a regular spot for political power brokers, the modern Jeffrey’s serves as an analogue for today’s high-style hustlers and captains of creative industry. Sip a martini by the fireplace with your caviar or move into the main dining room for a more formal experience, as the kitchen handsomely prepares a sliced bone-in rib-eye cooked to rosy perfection and served with foie gras butter. Tucked out of sight behind the bar, the private dining room is one of the city’s most exclusive hideaways, and the bar is the perfect place to sample some dainty but flavorful small bites before or in lieu of a grand dinner.

1601 Waterston Ave.

1601 Waterston Ave.

With the same considered style, grace and sophistication of older brother Jeffrey’s next door but with a less masculine appeal, Josephine House is the epitomic home for those who, in a less thoughtful time, would have been called Ladies Who Lunch. But there are no qualifications required to enjoy lithe crab and avocado toast (at breakfast or dinner) or the more muscular steak frites that seems like it could have sauntered over from the wood-fired grill at Jeffrey’s. As with fellow McGuire Moorman property Elizabeth Street Cafe, Josephine House is a sneaky great place for breakfast.

4710 E. Fifth St.

4710 E. Fifth St.

There ain’t no party like a Justine’s party ’cause a Justine’s party don’t stop. Or, it seems to never stop. The best place to get a great meal after midnight, Justine’s has defined itself as the indulgent rock ’n’ roll playscape for the inner hedonist and lover in us all. Chandeliers in the trees, tintype photos to conjure the imagined you from 100 years ago and fractal gold mirrors projecting the you that lives inside your mind — Justine’s is a surrealist escape. Oh, yeah, the food is consistently on point as well, from the bistro menu staples of steak frites and duck confit to blackboard specials like seared scallops in squash puree and wine-poached pears. Even the fruit is sexy at Justine’s.

1700 E. Cesar Chavez St.

1700 E. Cesar Chavez St.

More comfortable seating, a move to exclusively smoking with post oak, and the addition of weekend kolaches … a few things have changed since Bill Kerlin and his wife, Amelia, opened their East Austin barbecue trailer four years ago, but not much. Oh, and it just keeps getting better. The sugar blended into the rub turns ribs into the kettle corn version of pork; a slow-smoked side of corn glowing with chipotle butter tastes like butterscotch. Even the lean brisket (the best I’ve ever had) jiggled with a small ribbon of fat running through it on a recent visit.

5301 Airport Blvd. #100

5301 Airport Blvd. #100

The husband-and-wife team of Také and Kayo Asazu has created a sushi spot with approachable price points and a laid-back neighborhood vibe. It was born from the couple’s popular trailer, Sushi A-Go-Go, that served modernist rolls you can still see on the menu today. But this casual alternative to the ritzy sushi places around town goes well beyond rolls and standard bites of fatty salmon, ruby-colored tuna and tobiko-topped hotate carpaccio to include cold dishes like the stinging crunch of chopped raw octopus with wasabi; more than a dozen fried items, like long shrimp in a crunchy golden casing; another dozen or so grilled items that include ringlets of grilled whole squid in a viscous ginger tare sauce; and daily specials like whole mackerel, the tangy meat sliced and served with the crunchy fried bones of the fish.

619 N. Colorado St., Lockhart

619 N. Colorado St., Lockhart

The size, the stature, the (relocated) history — this brick behemoth feels like it could double as the Hall of Fame of barbecue. And, though the building does feel a bit industrial, its lamb-chopped pitmaster Roy Perez gives Kreuz some rockabilly toughness. He oversees pits turning out intensely flavored beef shoulder clod (an alternative for those looking to stray from the fatty brisket most adore), fiery dry-cured jalapeño sausage and peppery ribs. Bonus points for honoring the pig with spare ribs, pork chops and the not-often-seen boneless ham.

2027 E. Cesar Chavez St.

2027 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Pick up a book featuring the folks behind some of Texas’ best barbecue joints and you probably won’t find many women, so it’s worth noting and celebrating that one of the state’s best is run by LeAnn Mueller. Barbecue smoke is in her blood, having grown up in Taylor as the daughter of Bobby Mueller and granddaughter of famed pitmaster Louie Mueller. LeAnn Mueller honors her dad with a mural featuring his El Camino on the wall at the Quikie Pickie, the store from which her former trailer business now operates. She also honors her family with a sturdy beef rib, jiggly brisket with a rugged bark, and sausage with a firm snap and fierce bite.

400 W 2nd St.

400 W 2nd St.

We will always owe a debt of gratitude to La Condesa for giving downtown Austin a blueprint for how to do cosmopolitan dining. The standard hasn’t always been met by those that followed, but with its soaring ceilings, handsome wood furniture, bright modernist art, split-level bar and dining areas, wraparound patio and fine-tuned menu, La Condesa still shows how it’s done. Elotes, mushroom and huitlacoche huaraches, and a cheese-encased steak taco that nods to a taqueria in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City place diners squarely in the Mexican capital. Sumptuous lamb barbacoa tacos served on bubbled and charred bacon fat tortillas and a dish of Alaskan halibut and jicama swimming in yuzu leche de tigre strike the contrasts of rich and refreshing at the restaurant that serves my favorite margarita in Austin.

4901 S. First St.

4901 S. First St.

La Flor’s handmade corn tortillas, spotted with tanned marks from the flattop and thick and fluffy as pupusas, are as good as any I’ve had in town. The well-seasoned crumbles of ground beef carry a faint heat from their rumble with red chili sauce in a picadillo taco brightened with white onions and cilantro, and soft potatoes mash with a squeeze to give added creaminess to chunks of carne guisada. Bonus points for an impressive history — almost a decade of business for this trailer that sits outside a convenience store.

111 River Road, Wimberley

111 River Road, Wimberley

Rachel and Matthew Buchanan brought artisan food with smart flavor profiles to Wimberley and revolutionized the way people could think about local dining in this heavenly town on the Blanco River. Chef Matthew Buchanan strikes a balance, offering comfort food like house-cured brisket that holds together a perfect Reuben on marbled rye while stretching creatively with items like a pizza made with butternut squash, gingered tomatoes and sliced lamb meatballs. The fried quail sandwich is one of my favorites anywhere. Bonus points for massive slices of triple chocolate cake from neighboring Sugar Shack Bakery.

1306 E 6th St.

1306 E 6th St.

Walk down East Sixth Street and you’ll find a little rugged spot that will suck you in like a time warp. It doesn’t just send you spiraling back to a different time before condos and sexy restaurants started popping up on the street; it takes you to another place entirely. The inside of the ramshackle old bungalow has the allure of a mezcal speakeasy in the hills of Mexico, and the menu delivers the flavors of Mexico City, where Licha’s owner Daniel Brooks’ mother, Alicia Rivera, was born. Sopecitos cradle beef tongue and cochinita pibil, while common Mexico City street foods like huaraches and tlacoyos carry the complexity of chicken mole and the crunch of cactus. And, if the food of Mexico doesn’t seduce you to give into the time warp, the mezcal, tequila, bacanora and sotol will.

419 Colorado St.

419 Colorado St.

A Fort Worth celebrity chef swaggered into Austin, a place with which he was already very familiar because of the Austin Food & Wine Festival and Austin City Limits Music Festival, and made himself at home. Lonesome Dove has some traditional oversized Texana aesthetic — taxidermy — and cuisine — garlic-stuffed beef tenderloin — but Tim Love adds thoughtful flourishes, like fettines made with wild game, and farro congee with kale pesto, pork cheek and cured egg, a modern day cowboy dish with an Asian twist. Bonus points for being a place to take out-of-state visitors wanting some of their Texas stereotypes reinforced.

206 W. Second St., Taylor

206 W. Second St., Taylor

Louie Mueller Barbecue deserves to be included in the first sentence of any story about Texas barbecue. Wayne Mueller carries on the tradition of his grandfather and father with melt-in-your mouth brisket and a gargantuan beef rib with a gentle interior that belies its prehistoric heft and peppery crust. Mueller's classic beef sausage gets turned up two different ways, with jalapeño and chipotle varieties, and those looking for a sweeter sensation can tackle baby back ribs. Bonus points for a loaded baked potato that defines the form.

1109 S. Lamar Blvd. (Trailer)

1109 S. Lamar Blvd. (Trailer)

You can take the chef out of the restaurant, but you can’t take the restaurant out of the chef. Longtime Austinite Luke Bibby, a veteran of old Austin favorites like Granite Cafe and the original Jeffrey’s, could have been satisfied just serving one of the best burgers as well as some really good sandwiches like Szechuan fried chicken from his little trailer outside the Gibson Bar on South Lamar. But the restless Bibby uses his mobile kitchen to experiment with nightly specials that pull from whatever culinary inspiration pops in his head or whatever he might come across in the garden or at the Asian market. You can catch whispers of Chinese cuisine in the jasmine tea-brined and smoked duck, and our neighbor to the south gets a nod with beef tenderloin and crab enchiladas with huitlacoche and black bean sauce. That was one of his weekly steak night specials. From a trailer. Whether you think of local business or eccentric “old Austin” characters when you think of the phrase “keep it weird,” Bibby meets the criteria.

1309 Rosewood Ave.

1309 Rosewood Ave.

You know who keeps really weird hours? Bakers and rock ’n’ rollers. And barbecue cooks. With the first two boxes checked, Tom Micklethwait seems to have found his calling with the third. His little trailer, the color of gentle banana pudding, is set in about as idyllic a pastoral setting as you’ll find in the middle of the city. It almost feels like a scene from a camper park in an Irish movie. The massive beef rib, with its opaque rivulets of fat, could be used as a weapon. The citrus splash on the poppy seed coleslaw helps cut the fat, and another great side dish, the jalapeno cheese grits, makes for a nice running mate with tangy and smoky pulled pork. While some of his peers around town rely on others for their sausage, Micklethwait makes his own — one day a menacing jalapeno version in a snap casing, the next knockwurst or kielbasa.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

Chef-owners John Bates and Brandon Martinez helped shift perceptions about Austin dining in multiple ways when they opened their original deli near Anderson Mill. They showed that chef-driven flavor profiles and techniques can be applied to a sandwich shop and that some of the city’s best restaurants can thrive on the edges of town. Their seared beef tongue was one of the early nose-to-tail standard-bearers. Hearty breads, tangy pickles and meats prepared in-house, such as pulled pork, lush duck pastrami and roasted turkey, still make up the heart of a menu driven by sandwiches that pack big flavor while showing restraint in number of ingredients. Bonus points for occasional dinners like their collaboration this fall with Jester King Brewery.

404 S. Lamar Blvd.

404 S. Lamar Blvd.

P. Terry’s is such a consistent and ubiquitous part of the Austin dining landscape that it’s hard to believe it’s been almost a decade since Patrick Terry helped us rethink what we could expect from a fast-food restaurant. His patty empire runs on humanely raised and antibiotic-free Angus beef and chicken. Quality ingredients don’t stop there — they also serve Idaho potatoes hand-cut into twisting and tawny fries, cage-free organic eggs in the breakfast sandwiches, lemonade made with lemon, water and sugar, and one of the five best veggie burgers in town. For the record, my order is a double with bacon, cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, onions and jalapenos. Bonus points for always providing friendly service and consistently giving back to the community.

1203 E. 11th St.

1203 E. 11th St.

Having a very limited menu and hours is a loaded proposition: It gives you the chance to tighten your focus, but it also means everything has to be good. Paperboy pulls off the gambit with ease. The breakfast sandwiches are beautiful representations of the form, with fluffy brioche buns and perfect sunny-side-up eggs that have somehow defied being transported across town when I’ve used a third-party delivery vendor. They don’t go crazy with wild and numerous ingredients. Instead, it’s thick, crunchy bacon with pimento cheese, or caramelized onion maple butter with spicy goat sausage. Simple and great. Bonus points for taking a chance on a bold idea.

301 E. Sixth St.

301 E. Sixth St.

Following a meal this year, I circled through the brick-walled dining room and back along the packed bar at Parkside, where people sat sipping bright vodka cocktails and slurping East Coast oysters, and one thought crossed my mind: “This place is so much better than it needs to be.” That’s not damning with faint praise. Parkside serves one of the best dinners (and happy hours) downtown, but given its location among the Sixth Street tourist traps, it could just be average and still rake in money. As a native Austinite and one of the local chefs who has grown his own impressive culinary tree, owner Shawn Cirkiel refuses to put things on cruise control. A beautiful charcuterie board with a ragged and peppery cotto salami and supple homemade gnocchi alive with citrus and fennel prove that the restaurant has not wavered in its commitment to quality or craftsmanship, even if some of the tourists and bachelor parties wouldn’t know the difference.

1400 S. Congress Ave.

1400 S. Congress Ave.

What purpose does a good restaurant serve, a budding writer recently asked me. When done right, it can help define the identity of a city. Few Austin restaurants have done as much to help mold and showcase the identity of their neighborhood or block as has this misplaced oceanfront spot. Congress Avenue has become a place where locals enjoy a leisurely hang and tourists make relaxed strolls, and the patio of Perla’s is the perfect restaurant to reflect and view that electric and eclectic mix. It invites you to chill with oysters and white wine or get loud and bold with chimichurri-jazzed steaks and a bottle of red. It’s a spot for a light lunch of wedge salad with lump crab; a crowd-watching happy hour with ceviche and Chablis; a boozy, mimosa-fueled brunch; and a boisterous or refined dinner.

12005 U.S. 290 West

12005 U.S. 290 West

Husband-and-wife team Josh and Paige Kaner have pulled off quite the accomplishment: They created a restaurant equally loved by families and food-obsessives. And they did it on the edge of town, and with the oddball combination of pizza and pastrami. Pieous piles the wobbly, perfumed folds of smoky beef pastrami into massive sandwiches, and their Neapolitan pizzas come out of the blazing oven charred and bubbled with a thick, chewy edge and gentle middle. Bonus points for giving us a reason to make a pit stop on our way out to the Hill Country.

3100 S. Congress Ave.

3100 S. Congress Ave.

With healthiness and convenience increasingly becoming two of the main drivers of casual dining behavior, poke makes a ton of sense. You get your protein from raw fish, carbs from rice and plenty of additional flavor from soy sauce, sesame oil and onions. All in one bowl. While the trend has taken off all over Austin, Poke Poke is the gold standard. Native Texans Jason McVeary and Trish Fortuna fell for the surfer’s delight while living in Hawaii and then helped start the craze in California before returning home. In addition to their classic poke, the husband-and-wife team serves variations like the shoyu-splashed and red-pepper-kicked Aloha bowl and offers an array of additional toppings for the non-traditionalists. If you’re lucky enough to visit one of the two locations when they have bigeye tuna, order it and marvel at the butteriness of the fish.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

I wonder if Tatsu Aikawa and Takuya Matsumoto knew what they were about to unleash when they launched their original restaurant in North Austin. Having spent time in Los Angeles and Japan, the two former DJs must have been pumping with excitement to turn Austinites on to the noodle soup. But they didn’t cut any corners. The rich, creamy tonkotsu made of boiled pork bones takes 60 hours to create, and their thin vermicelli-style noodles are the perfect accompaniment in the bowl that also has a marinated egg, wood ear mushrooms and scallions. I’m partial to the lighter Ol’ Skool, made with chicken shoyu broth and served with more robust noodles and bamboo shoots. Bonus points for serving chilled ramen in the summer heat.

916 Springdale Road

916 Springdale Road

Japan reminds me of craftsmanship and perfection, even when things are seemingly simple. There is something calming and cool about this glass-walled cafe in an industrial complex that is fittingly home to artists' studios. Sa-Ten’s flossy, feathery and slightly sweet toast made with Japanese milk bread recalls my cherished breakfasts when visiting Japan. The nori tama toast comes topped with crumbled egg spread across the bread’s ivory expanse, with a melted layer of mozzarella holding it in place. The creamy mixture is spotted with green onions and the oceanic flavors of dried seaweed flakes. Who needs breakfast tacos when you have this? Bonus points for some of the best wallpaper in town.

2538 Elmont Drive

2538 Elmont Drive

Pupusas may never match corn tortillas for market dominance in Austin, but the puffy Central American staple makes for a great delivery mechanism with fuller mouthfeel. Order them stuffed with chicharrón and melted white cheese at this East Austin trailer. Another must: fried chicken wrapped in a sweet, knobby crust and covered in a tangy cream sauce. The large pieces of hot, oily bird come with pickled onions and tender medallions of fried plantains. Bonus points for expanding Austinites' ideas about food from south of the border.

3616 Far West Blvd.

3616 Far West Blvd.

Co-owner Thiniso Tashi was raised in Northeast India by a Tibetan father and Nepalese mother, and the menu at his and Rajesh Ghimire’s Northwest Hills strip mall restaurant straddles Tibet and Nepal, with one foot in India and one in China. The tangy cauliflower of the Gobi Manchurian poses as Indo-Chinese fried chicken, and you can get actual chicken with the turmeric and red-chili-buzzed chicken lollipops, a popular Kathmandu street food. More sumptuous delights can be found in slow-cooked goat curry, rich with bone marrow. That curry comes from the menu’s Nepalese section that also features a selection of homemade dumplings called momos.

2404 E. Seventh St.

2404 E. Seventh St.

It’s a classic case of the whole being worth more than the sum of its parts: Marinate pork in a mixture of fish sauce, garlic, red shallots and a touch of honey, sear the meat and then kiss it with a torch for a final bit of caramelization. You get a tangy, sweet, savory, smoky and transcendent strip of pork. Add to that the slick glow of mayonnaise, the crunch of jalapenos and cooling cucumber and the snap of carrots and daikon, and you get the best bánh mì in Austin and one of the city’s best sandwiches. Chef Tebi Nguyen, who grew up next to a bánh mì shop in Saigon before moving with his family to San Antonio, serves a small menu from his East Austin food trailer, and if he ever opens his own restaurant and expands on that menu, I will be one of the first in line.

1912 E. Seventh St.

1912 E. Seventh St.

The marriage of butcher shop and salumeria makes Salt & Time unique in the Austin dining landscape. You come to understand the simple beauty of a sandwich at lunch when the kitchen lets house-cured and roasted meats do the heavy lifting on a ham-and-cheese or roast beef sandwich. And, sure, you can probably get a pear and blue cheese salad at many restaurants around town, but where will you find one topped with charcuterie made in-house? The butcher shop shows Salt & Time’s distinct advantage at dinner with a rotating selection of house-cut steaks, like Akaushi rib-eye and Black Angus filet mignon, and the kitchen proves its skill beyond the grill with specials like elk carpaccio. Pair the meaty meal with a funky local beer or red wine from a clever list.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

Rents downtown, as with other hot parts of the city, make it hard for local operators to set up shop, leaving a hole for deep-pocketed chains and out-of-towners. Congress Avenue and Second Street is kind of like Austin’s front porch, one of our most visible intersections downtown and within shouting distance of the massive J.W. Marriott across the street. So it’s important that we put on a good face for visitors while still maintaining a sense of self and integrity. Fortunately Second Bar + Kitchen executive chef David Bull’s restaurant is well suited for locals and out-of-towners, the Platonic ideal of elevated-yet-approachable New American cuisine. With a raw kale salad topped with grilled shrimp, a savory burger juicy with brisket fat, creative pizzas and complex seafood dishes, there’s something for everyone. Even food snobs.

4534 West Gate Blvd.

4534 West Gate Blvd.

Sichuan River gives South Austinites the rare opportunity to have bragging rights over North Austin when it comes to Chinese food. Beef tendon stew, pig elbow in chili sauce, sour trotters … you come to this place for the real deal, not Americanized takes on Chinese food (though they can do that, too, as evidenced by the sweet General Tso’s chicken). Twice-cooked pork and spicy jumping fish are the go-to dishes for me at Cindy Zhao’s restaurant, as is any Szechuan dish that numbs your lips with those garnet-colored peppers.

1417 S. First St.

1417 S. First St.

Sway changed the way many Austinites view Thai food when the restaurant opened in 2013. The restaurant took the Southeast Asian cuisine from the nondescript strip mall and placed it in this dark, evocative space with communal tables, proving that the Thai experience could be sexy and cosmopolitan. Sway takes its notes from chef David Thompson’s Australianised version of the cuisine, and while any regular of the restaurant knows the thrills of the coconut-sweetened jungle curry and the savory minerality of the pork-and-egg Son-in-Law, I like venturing off the well-worn path for dishes like the nashi pear chicken stir-fry with Brussels sprouts, though I do admit a weakness for tossing the popular blue crab fried rice and tamarind-glazed beef fried rice together for my own version of surf-and-turf.

315 Congress Ave.

315 Congress Ave.

Executive chef Zack Northcutt left the kitchen at Swift’s Attic in summer 2016 after five years, though he was replaced by longtime Swift’s veteran Matthew Taylor. It will be interesting to see what Taylor brings to a kitchen that has drawn on Asian influences for dishes like Brussels sprouts with nuoc cham and mushrooms with white pepper soy and bok choy. Swift’s has carved a niche as a populist gastroclub (peep the bar scene and the music) that can get creative without challenging its guests too much, so expect more comforting dishes like Korean steak and pork cheeks with figs. Bonus points for its Monday night burger specials that feature some of the most over-the-top takes on a burger you’ll find anywhere.

11005 Burnet Road.

11005 Burnet Road.

You can get orange chicken and sweet-and-sour pork at pretty much any Chinese restaurant (or airport) in America. Come to this bustling lunch spot (calmer at dinner) for a tea-smoked (then fried) duck that looks like tanned leather on the outside but crackles and pops when you bite into it, revealing tender meat. Cumin lamb zips with the familiar Mexican spice, and the pile of fragrant Szechuan peppers on the fried chicken will tingle your lips and bead sweat on your forehead. Bonus points for being a great place to dine on Christmas (if you can get a table).

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

Tacodeli has survived and thrived since 1999 because of considered flavor layering, quality sourcing and smart growth. Fans have long thought the taco bar could add hours and locations and blow up like some other mini-chains, but owners Roberto Espinosa and Eric Wilkerson have taken their time. The hours still stick to morning and afternoon, but there are now several Austin locations, one in Dallas and one in Houston serving the Cowboy Taco (dry-rubbed beef tenderloin sweetened with grilled corn, caramelized onions and roasted peppers and cooled with guacamole and queso fresco), the iron-packed Popeye with spinach and egg, and the smoky-sweet Papadulce centered on sweet potatoes. The fiery green Doña sauce is one of the most popular and beloved condiments in Austin, and with good reason. Bonus points for not losing their culture during their patient growth.

1601 Ohlen Road

1601 Ohlen Road

Mea culpa time: It’s hard to suss out every good restaurant in town. I miss places for any number of reasons. Sometimes they hide in plain sight, and sometimes they are tucked away. The Tran family has operated this Vietnamese restaurant behind the Target off U.S. 183 for 21 years, but I didn't pay my first visit until this year. Now, it is my favorite Vietnamese spot in town. The pho has depth and character, and the round eye beef, often too dry in pho, was velvety and beefy, like thin-sliced prime rib at Christmas. A marinade of soy sauce, garlic and a splash of fish sauce elevates the charbroiled pork into transcendent meat candy. The pork comes on other dishes, and I am told you can order by the pound. I know what I’m ordering next time. Bonus points for friendly family service, from the parents and their children, as well as the non-family members of the team.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

With her smile and infectious enthusiasm, Woinee Mariam might not just change your day; she might change your whole month. The native Ethiopian opened her first restaurant in Pflugerville almost a decade ago and added a South Congress location in 2016. Lunch offers a large buffet, with plenty of vegetarian options, and at dinner you can use the spongy injera bread to tuck into the warmth of berbere-buzzed doro wot (Ethiopia’s national dish) and piquant sauteed lamb tibbs with ginger and peppers. And after trying the kitfo appetizer, you’ll wonder why everyone doesn’t serve their beef tartare with clarified butter.

2900 Rio Grande St.

2900 Rio Grande St.

Whether celebrating the bounty of the market, thoughtfully introducing his latest chef (Josh Williams) or tracking the life of a croissant, which he learned to make from his mother and bakery co-founder Judy Willcott, owner Murph Willcott’s regular newsletter always communicates his love for food and his restaurant with the same exuberance. The past decade has seen the charming cafe evolve from one of the city’s most reliable bakeries to a bistro that showcases local and seasonal fare with unfussy dishes like bavette steak with salsa verde and roasted chicken and squash colored with a restrained pistou.

909 Mary St.

909 Mary St.

Before she and her husband, Bruce Barnes, opened Thai Fresh in 2008, Jam Sanitchat taught cooking classes in her and other people’s kitchens. The couple have since turned this South Austin staple into a sort of neighborhood kitchen that fosters a communal spirit and some healthy eating habits. A bakery and ice cream shop specializing in gluten-free baked goods sits next to the original dining room, which now features sit-down service. Sweet potatoes and pineapple fortify masaman curry with a meaty sweetness, and supple sirloin packs protein into a vibrant green salad with a dressing full of the hallmarks of Thai food: sweet, sour, salt and sting. The couple met working at Hoover’s, and their fried chicken sandwich puts a spicy Thai twist on the classic. Bonus points for being an early Austin adopter of the service-included pay model, which helps raise the salaries of those working in the kitchen.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

Chef Thai Changthong deserves credit for helping shape the 2.0 version of the Austin food truck scene. His partners at East Side King helped open the door, and Changthong kicked it down with fiery, unapologetic Thai food like his aromatic beef panang curry, the heat from the dish mellowed by kaffir lime leaf, basil and coconut cream. His brick-and-mortar restaurant, which gives serious street cred to the pristine Rock Rose development at Domain Northside, serves dishes like that curry, as well as khao man gai and fried chicken that made Changthong’s original truck at East Austin bar Whistler’s famous, while also offering large format items like a giant fried whole grouper with crackling skin and grilled rib-eye electrified with nam jim jaew dipping sauce.

6507 Burnet Road

Matthew Odam / American-Statesman

Longtime Austin chef Ray Tatum has an impressive resume that includes 12 years at Jeffrey's. Now he makes cuisine with Southern and Asian influences at his Three Little Pigs trailer behind the Aristocrat Lounge.

6507 Burnet Road

Most trailer chefs dream of someday running their own kitchen. Chef Ray Tatum flipped the script. The grumbling, long-haired hippie possesses a resume that includes restaurants like Jean-Luc's French Bistro, Brio Vista and Jeffrey’s, where Tatum was the executive chef for more than a decade. He escaped traditional kitchens and started his renegade life as a trailer chef about eight years ago.

His influences span from the South (meatloaf encircled by crunchy bacon and served with crisp and sweet collard greens fit for a Tennessee meat-and-three) to Southeast Asia (flank steak vibrating with fish sauce and hand-picked herbs). His Texas roots show in a surprisingly tender dish of cubed carnitas humming with familiar Mexican spices seared to the beef’s surface and served with drunken beans. Bonus points for the proximity to whiskey and pinball inside the neighboring Aristocrat Lounge.

5501 N. Lamar Blvd.

5501 N. Lamar Blvd.

Austinites received Titaya Timrerk like a queen returning to her empire after her yearlong hiatus two years ago. With a full dining room and a waiting area regularly packed at both lunch and dinner, Timrerk can make claim to being the operator of arguably Austin’s most beloved Thai restaurant. The fibrous snap of bamboo strips and zucchini fills a green curry warmed with serrano peppers and sweetened with coconut milk in one of several curries at Titaya’s.

If you’re looking for more heat, get the seafood-packed Basil Talay, in which hot chili and garlic buzz the shrimp, squid and green mussels. Start with the savory crunch of her fried chicken that comes topped with a floral pile of fried lemongrass that looks like hay. Bonus points for filling and flavorful lunch specials for less than $10.

7525 Burnet Road

7525 Burnet Road

Car-hop stalls, charcoal grills, the hard red chairs, vintage paper cup design and one of the most recognizable signs in town … a meal at Top Notch is a time-traveling experience back to the restaurant’s 1971 opening and beyond. Yes, nostalgia helps this place into the list, but so do the milk wash and secret-recipe seasoning that give the fried chicken sandwich a pale, soft crust and tender meat. Tangy mayonnaise glistens on the thin, church-picnic bun with a simple dress of tomato, crunchy lettuce and rounds of pickles. The charcoal-fired flame marks on a juicy burger remind you of a backyard party from decades ago. Bonus points for its role in quintessential Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused.” Alright, alright, alright.

11500 Manchaca Road (Mobile)

11500 Manchaca Road (Mobile)

Brisket, smoked chicken, pulled pork, serrano salsa, refried beans. The building blocks of Valentina’s weren’t anything new to Texans when the trailer first opened, but it’s the way Miguel Vidal uses those bricks that has made his trailer such a smashing success and brought raves from the likes of barbecue wizard Aaron Franklin. Vidal blends his family’s Texas and Mexican heritage for a jiggly, smoky and sweet brisket sandwich, a smoked chicken sandwich brightened by citrusy guacamole, and carnitas tacos ablaze with habanero salsa. The Real Deal Holyfield, a gargantuan breakfast taco stuffed with refried beans, fried egg, potato and brisket, will keep you full until dinner time. There’s a brick-and-mortar planned for far South Austin, and I’m sure the hungry line-standers at the food truck can’t wait.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

In a town with a mind-scrambling number of options, it’s astonishing that you can find what almost amounts to consensus on the issue of Austin’s best taco. The migas taco at Veracruz will convert even the biggest breakfast taco skeptic (this critic) and has wowed some of America’s most famous authorities on food, from Alton Brown to Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times. This ideal breakfast taco starts with a dusty and gentle homemade flour tortilla, which holds a twirl of perfectly seasoned creamy scrambled eggs, sturdy tortilla chips, gooey cheese and feathered avocado. It’s the cornerstone of the business sisters Maritza and Reyna Vazquez of Veracruz, Mexico, founded as a trailer in 2009, a demi empire that now includes two trucks as well as a restaurant in Round Rock and one in North Austin, with an intriguing menu that extends beyond the trucks’ offerings of tacos and quesadillas.

Multiple locations

Multiple locations

What did the stumbling drunks of East Sixth Street and the Rainey neighborhood do before Detroit natives Zane and Brandon Hunt blessed Austin with their first pizza trailers? And, what did the families of South Austin and the students at the University of Texas do before the brick-and-mortar locations opened? Via 313 has become such a comforting go-to for so many that it’s hard to imagine the city before the arrival of Via 313’s thick slices, rivulets of sweet and acidic tomato sauce bursting through the top layer of cheese and spilling outward toward the crispy auburn edges. Don’t make me imagine that time.

2201 College Ave.

2201 College Ave.

We give some outsiders side-eye when they try and slide into the Austin market, but Erin Wade’s salad concept from New Mexico has made for a perfect fit off South Congress Avenue. The salad bar idea has limped along for decades, but Wade revitalizes it with fresh ingredients (many soon to come from a farm she is building in Bastrop) topped with an array of well-executed proteins and served in an airy, modern, bright space.

One of the keys to the salads’ balance: well-dressed greens, so every bite carries a flavorful sheen, from the zippy lemon-anchovy vinaigrette on a kale Caesar with Parmesan and Marcona almonds (add lemon-herb chicken) to the blush of ruby port vinaigrette on a bed of arugula draped with juicy grilled pork tenderloin, pickled fennel, sharp cheddar and matchstick green apples. Bonus points for cocktails made with juice from fresh produce.

519 W. Oltorf St.

519 W. Oltorf St.

Before there was Winebelly, there was bohemian coffee shop the Green Muse. And for those who worried that the switch a few years ago meant their neighborhood was gentrifying or changing too much, too fast, Winebelly put those fears at ease. It pulls off the familiarity and friendliness of a coffee shop with the added sophistication of a wine bar.

On the light end, you can order a pretty roasted beet salad that features strawberries one week and blueberries and candied pistachios the next, or a plate of expressive cured white anchovies. Trying to decide whether the fish would be best with a pinot grigio or a dry rosé? The knowledgeable staff will walk you through the 100+ bottles on the list and tell you what red stands up best to gamy and sweet grilled lamb ribs. Bonus points for holding the haughtiness.

1014 N. Lamar Blvd.

1014 N. Lamar Blvd.

Owners Mark Paul and Stewart Scruggs serve as a culinary bridge between Austin’s past and its future, with their point of view and style rooted in the present. They worked at some of Austin’s most beloved and respected restaurants of the ’80s and opened Wink in 2001, a spot that blends the familiarity of a neighborhood restaurant with the sophistication of a special-occasion destination, and a place where many of Austin’s young talent has learned and grown over the past 16 years. Austin’s farm-to-table pioneers complement and garnish their stalwarts with elegant and smart seasonal touches, from the hearty shiitakes and chard accompanying primal sweetbreads to the nutty strands of spaghetti squash and meaty mushrooms awash in citrus gastrique that elevate rosy duck breast.